Online First 2022-11-19. Bibliogr. s. [28-34]

Over the past 16 years, the concept of crowdsourcing has rapidly gained traction across many research felds. While related debates focused mainly on its importance for business, the public and non-governmental sectors, its relevance for generating scientifc knowledge is increasingly emphasized. This rising interest remains in con tradiction with its feeble recognition, and excessive simplifcations reducing crowd sourcing in science to citizen science. Conceptual clarity and a coherent framework would help integrate the various research streams. The aim of this paper is to extend refection on crowdsourcing in science by analyzing the characteristics of the phe nomenon. We synthesize a consensual defnition from the literature, and structure key characteristics into a coherent framework, useful in guiding further research. We use a systematic literature review procedure to generate a pool of 42 defnitions from a comprehensive set of 62 articles spanning diferent literatures, including: business and economics, education, psychology, biology, and communication studies. We follow a mixed-method approach that combines bibliometric and frequency analy ses with deductive coding and thematic analysis. Based on triangulated results we develop an integrative defnition: crowdsourcing in science is a collaborative online process through which scientists involve a group of self-selected individuals of var ying, diverse knowledge and skills, via an open call to the Internet and/or online platforms, to undertake a specifed research task or set of tasks. We also provide a conceptual framework that covers four key characteristics: initiator, crowd, process, and technology.